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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26274826">Red Paladin, Son of Hades</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Riordanverse_CHB/pseuds/Riordanverse_CHB'>Riordanverse_CHB</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Percy Jackson and the Olympians &amp; Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, Voltron: Legendary Defender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Gen, M/M, Other</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 06:06:56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>17,832</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26274826</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Riordanverse_CHB/pseuds/Riordanverse_CHB</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Keith never knew his mother, she left him with his father when he was just a baby. Hades brought him to Maria di Angelo while she was pregnant with Nico. Maria takes him in, but after the accident that takes her life, the 3 children of the Underworld go to a Casino where they spend 70 years. What happens when they meet Percy Jackson? What happens when Keith goes to the Galaxy Garrison? ALL CHAPTERS WILL BE IN KEITH'S POV UNTIL IT SAYS OTHERWISE. 📣DISCLAIMER📣 I DO NOT OWN RIORDANVERSE OR VOLTRON, RICK RIORDAN AND DREAMWORKS DO. ⚠️I HAVE ALSO POSTED THIS STORY IN MY FANFICTION AND WATTPAD ACCOUNTS (SAME USERNAME)⚠️. ALSO, MANY TIMESKIPS!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Calypso/Leo Valdez, Colleen Holt/Sam Holt, Hazel Levesque/Frank Zhang, Jason Grace/Piper McLean, Maria di Angelo/Hades, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>42</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I was playing another game with my best friend Nico and his sister Bianca. We were at this place called Lotus Hotel and Casino. All three of us were like a family. I don't remember much before I came to the Casino, all I know is that Bianca and Nico were always there for me. Bianca is the oldest, I was born a year after, and Nico the year after me. I have been here for a day, month, I don't know. Anyways, back to the games.</p><p>Nico and I were playing this new game, 'call of duty'. It was great. Suddenly, there was a commotion at the lobby. I turned and saw a boy with jet black hair, a blonde girl and a curly brown-haired boy. They were leaving the Hotel, weird, I've never seen anyone leave... Never mind, they must have been in a hurry.</p><p>~~</p><p>A couple of hours, I think, after that little commotion, a woman entered the Hotel. She seemed familiar, although I don't know why. She *insert Mrs. Dodds description*. She walked directly towards me, Nico, and Bianca.</p><p>"Come with me kids" she told us in a stern voice.</p><p>"Who are you?" Bianca asked, already in defensive.</p><p>"I am your father's lawyer; he has told me to take you to school"</p><p>"Our parents are dead" Bianca kept challenging.</p><p>"It was on his will; it took me a while to find you"</p><p>"What does it have to do with Keith?" she kept questioning.</p><p>"He wrote to not separate you, so he left some things for him too"</p><p>"Let us go get our things then" Bianca said in defeat.</p><p>Out of options, Bianca, Nico, and I went to get our things. I only had a couple of Hotel t-shirts and a dagger. The dagger was my most priced possession, my mom left it to me before she disappeared. It had a weird symbol on it, but I didn't know what it meant. After we were ready, the three of us followed the mysterious lady out of the Casino.</p><p>Bianca had always been protective over us; she makes herself responsible if anything happens because she's the oldest. I sometimes help her take care of Nico, he's so naive and curious about everything. But it's dangerous to not question things a little, so the both of us are always watching over him. I can tell Bianca is thankful when I take Nico to play Mythomagic or some other game, after all she needs some time for her own.</p><p>The lawyer led us to a car, and we climbed inside. After a few hours of driving, me and Nico playing Mythomagic while Bianca looked out the window with a curious expression, we arrived at a medieval-castle-like looking structure.</p><p>"This is your school, Westover Hall. Bianca, you will be in 7th grade, Keith in 6th, and Nico in 5th. Is everything clear?"</p><p>"Yes ma'am" Bianca, Nico and I chorused.</p><p>With that, or maybe my imagination was playing tricks on me, she vanished into the shadows. The three of us made our way towards the school. When we walked inside, we were greeted by a strange man. My gut told me to run, but I ignored it.</p><p>"Hello there, kids. You must be the new students, I'm Doctor Thorn. Please follow me"</p><p>~~</p><p>It had been a few months since we started school. My suspicions towards Doctor Thorn had only increased. I seriously wanted to get out of this place, but that's a normal feeling for students.</p><p>Today, we were finally going to the city. I was in awe, so much had changed since we went in the Casino. I actually can't seem to remember when we went in, but it did not look like this. There was this thing called the Subway System. It was super cool, you traveled underground!</p><p>Bianca, Nico and I hadn't made any friends, so we stuck together. Bianca bought this drink called smoothie and Nico and I got milkshakes. They were delicious.</p><p>When it was time to go back, I could have sworn I saw a man with horns driving a bus. He was looking directly at us with an amazed look on his face. I didn't see him after, but we returned to school more cheerful than before.</p><p>~~</p><p>Midway into the school year, a guy named Grover joined my class. He was friendly. We even hung out sometimes along with the di Angelos. Grover always seemed a bit jumpy when he was close to Dr. Thorn, as if he could sense there was something weird with him too.</p><p>~~</p><p>The time for the Winter Dance came. Everyone was exited, which meant I wasn't. I decided to go alone, seeing no point in going with someone else.</p><p>At the dance, Bianca Nico and I went to the back of the gym, not wanting to be the center of attention. I didn't see Grover anywhere, I wondered where he could be.</p><p>Halfway through the dance, Grover came in with three other kids I didn't recognize. One of them was a girl with spiky black hair and electric blue eyes. Another was a boy with sea green eyes and jet-black hair. Lastly, there was a girl with blonde hair and grey eyes, which seemed intimidating.</p><p>They seemed to be talking about something. I saw them glancing at me and the di Angelo siblings from time to time, but didn't think any of it. At one point, Doctor Thorn came and took us outside of the gym. He harshly took Nico and Bianca by the shoulders and directed them outside, knowing I would follow.</p><p>He took us to the empty Main Entry Hall at the school, then disappeared. After a while, the boy with sea green eyes came. Bianca tried to warn him, but he didn't get the hint until it was too late. Dr. Thorn tried to shoot him, but failed. He grabbed him by the shoulder and proceeded to do the same with Bianca, he started walking outside into the forest and Nico and I followed.</p><p>The sea green eyed boy stopped and closed his eyes.</p><p>"What are you doing Jackson?" Doctor Thorn growled. "Keep moving!"</p><p>"It's my shoulder" he answered, "it hurts"</p><p>"I'm not even grabbing you that hard" he protested. He continued shoving us deeper into the forest until we reached a clearing with a cliff overlooking the ocean.</p><p>"Where are we going?" Bianca demanded boldly.</p><p>"Silence, you insufferable girl!" Doctor Thorn snapped.</p><p>"Hey, don't talk to my sister that way!" Nico angrily shouted at him while I punched the guy in the face.</p><p>Dr. Thorn shoved Bianca to the ground and grab my shoulder instead. Really hard, may I add.</p><p>Dr. Thorn pushed us towards the edge of the cliff and transformed into a monster.</p><p>"By all means, Perseus Jackson. Jump! there's the sea. Save yourself" he urged.</p><p>"What did he call you?" Bianca muttered.</p><p>"I'll explain later" the boy, Perseus, said.</p><p>"You do have a plan, right?" I asked.</p><p>"I would kill you before you ever reach the water, you do not realize who I am do you?" Dr. Thorn asked.</p><p>Some sort of metal missile whistled close to Perseus' ear. There was something behind Thorn, like a tail.</p><p>"Unfortunately," Thorn said. "you're wanted alive, if possible. Otherwise you would already be dead"</p><p>"Who wants us" Bianca demanded. "because if you think you'll get a ransom, you're wrong. We don't have any family. Nico, Keith, and I. We've got no one but each other"</p><p>"Aww, do not worry you will be meeting my employer soon enough" Thorn said.</p><p>"Luke" the sea green-eyed boy said "you work for Luke"</p><p>"You have no idea what's happening, Son of Poseidon." he said looked towards me, "The general is looking forward to meeting you. Ah, your transportation has arrived"</p><p>I turned and saw a light in the distance, then I heard the chopping of helicopter blades.</p><p>"Where are you taking us?" Nico asked.</p><p>"You should be honored, my boy. You will have the opportunity to join a great Army! Just like that silly game you play with cards and dolls"</p><p>"They're not dolls! They're figurines! And you can take your great army and-"</p><p>"Now, now," Thorn warned, "you will change your mind about joining us, my boy. And if you do not, well... there are other uses for half-bloods. We have many mouths to feed. The Great Stirring is underway"</p><p>"The Great what?" Perseus asked, I could tell he was trying to delay Thorn.</p><p>"The stirring of monsters" Thorn smiled evilly. "The worst of them, the most powerful, are now waking. Monsters that have not been seen in thousands of years. They will cause death and destruction; the likes of which mortals have never known. And soon we shall have the most important monster of all! The one that will bring the downfall of Olympus!"</p><p>"Ok," Bianca whispered. "he's completely nuts"</p><p>"We have to jump off the cliff," Perseus told her quietly "into the sea"</p><p>"Oh, super idea. You're completely nuts, too"</p><p>All of a sudden, the spiky haired girl and Grover appeared at a clearing. Something pushed me over to the ground along with Nico and Bianca, "into the forest" a girl's voice whispered.</p><p>I turned and grabbed Nico, Bianca did the same, then started running towards the forest. I heard something and pushed the di Angelos to the ground, then sidestepped. A missile landed right where I was standing before. I quickly grabbed the siblings’ hands and we hid in a nearby bush.</p><p>"That was scary, but awesome!" Nico exclaimed excitedly.</p><p>I rolled my eyes and peeked outside just in time to see the blond girl fall off the cliff with Dr. Thorn. Perseus tried to go after her, but an auburn-haired girl stopped him. The girl had an aura of power, like a goddess.</p><p>"Ye can come out now" a girl with a silver circlet on her hair said to us.</p><p>I looked at Bianca for reassurance on instinct, when she nodded, I helped Nico up and we made our way towards them.</p><p>The auburn-haired girl's eyes widened a bit when she saw me, then went back to a calm but calculating expression.</p><p>"- is gone!" the spiky haired girl was saying.</p><p>"Whoa, hold up. Time out" Bianca said. "Who... Who are you people?"</p><p>The auburn-haired girl, Lady Artemis I think, turned to her with a soft expression.</p><p>"It might be a better question, my dear girl, to ask who are you? Who are your parents?"</p><p>Bianca glanced nervously at me and Nico, who was still staring in awe at Artemis.</p><p>"Our parents are dead," Bianca said. "We are orphans. There's a bank trust to pay for school but..."</p><p>Bianca faltered. I guess he could tell from the expression on the other's faces that they didn't believe her.</p><p>"What?" she demanded. “I’m telling the truth"</p><p>"You are a half-blood,” Zoë Nightshade said. Her accent sounded old-fashioned. "One of thy parents was mortal. The other was an Olympian."</p><p>"An Olympian... athlete?"</p><p>"No," Zoe said. "An Olympian God"</p><p>"Cool!" said Nico.</p><p>"No!" Bianca's voice quivered, "this is not cool!"</p><p>Nico started jumping up and down. "Does Zeus really have lightning bolts that do 600 damage? Does he get extra movement points for-"</p><p>"Nico, I don't think this is some game" I said.</p><p>"Both of you, shut up!"  Bianca shouted. "This is not your stupid Mythomagic game, okay? There are no gods!"</p><p>"Bianca, I know it's hard to believe" the spiky haired girl started, "but the gods are still around. Trust me, they are immortal. And whenever they have kids with mortals, kids like us, well... Our lives are dangerous"</p><p>"Didn't you see Dr. Thorn? He acted like we were some kind if prize" I tried to convince her. I know Bianca's stubborn; she always has been. But if our lives are dangerous, like the girl who fell, we'll have to learn to trust this people.</p><p>"What about Dr. Thorn? Nico asked. "It was awesome how you shot him with arrows! Is he dead?"</p><p>"He was a manticore," Artemis said. "Hopefully, he's destroyed for now. But monsters never truly die. They reform over and over again, and they must be hunted whenever they reappear"</p><p>"Or they'll hunt us," Thalia said.</p><p>"Like that bus driver," I said. "The one with horns"</p><p>"We told you he was real!" Nico exclaimed.</p><p>"That's why Grover was watching you," Percy said. "To keep you safe, if you turned out to be half-bloods"</p><p>"Grover?" I stared at him, "you're a demigod?"</p><p>"Actually, I'm a satyr" He kicked off his shoes to reveal a pair of hooves. I thought Bianca was going to faint right then and there.</p><p>"Grover, put your shoes back on, you're freaking her out" Thalia said.</p><p>"Hey, my hooves are clean!"</p><p>"Bianca, we came here to help you. You, Keith, and Nico need training to survive. Dr. Thorn won't be the last monster you meet. You need to come to camp" Percy said.</p><p>"Camp?" She asked.</p><p>"Camp Half-Blood, it's where demigods learn to survive and stuff. You can join us, stay there year-round if you like"</p><p>"Sweet, let's go!" said Nico.</p><p>"Wait," Bianca shakes her head, "I don't-"</p><p>"There is another option," Zoë said.</p><p>"No there isn't!" Thalia said.</p><p>Both girls glared at each other.</p><p>"We have burdened these children enough," Artemis announced. "Zoë, we shall rest here for a few hours. Raise the tents and treat the wounded. Retrieve our guests’ belongings from the school"</p><p>"Yes, my lady"</p><p>"And Bianca, come with me. I would like to speak with you"</p><p>"What about us?" Nico asked.</p><p>Artemis considered us.</p><p>"Perhaps you can show Grover how to play the game of cards that you enjoy. I'm sure he will be happy to entertain you for a while... As a favor to me?"</p><p>Grover nodded enthusiastically "You bet! Come on Nico, Keith!"</p><p>I wasn't stupid, I knew something was going to happen, but I kept cheerful for Nico. While he explained the rules to Grover, I tried to remember all about the Hunters.</p><p>They were a group of maidens that hunted along with Lady Artemis. All of them received partial immortality and were free to wonder around by the group. That's it, Bianca is a maiden. They will surely ask her to join the Hunt.</p><p>As if on cue, Zoë came to where we were and asked for me to follow her. We entered what seemed like the main tent, and inside were Lady Artemis and Bianca.</p><p>"Hello Keith, I have called you here to know if there was anything Thorn said to you?"</p><p>"Well, he said something about a General and that we were special, but that must have been since we were demigods and all" I said.</p><p>Artemis nodded. "Before you go, I would like to ask something to you, Bianca. Would you like to join the Hunt?"</p><p>I KNEW IT! I knew she was going to ask her to join the Hunt. I unconsciously held my breath.</p><p>"What do you think?" she asked me.</p><p>I was surprised she had asked for my opinion.</p><p>"Well, I would obviously ask you to refuse and come with us to Camp so we can stay together, but I won't be selfish. I know you have always wanted an opportunity like this, to be free of the responsibilities of taking care of Nico and I. So the decision is yours, I won't judge you"</p><p>"Is it worth it?" she asked Zoë.</p><p>"It is"</p><p>"Then what do I have to do?"</p><p>"Repeat after me. I pledge myself to the goddess Artemis, I turn my back on the company of men, accept eternal maidenhood and join the Hunt"</p><p>Bianca repeated the lines.</p><p>"That's it?"</p><p>"Now Lady Artemis has to accept thy pledge"</p><p>"I accept"</p><p>Bianca was surrounded by a silvery glow.</p><p>"I feel... stronger"</p><p>"Welcome sister" Zoë said.</p><p>~~</p><p>The next day, the Hunters broke Camp as quickly as they had set it up. Artemis was staring into the East like she was expecting something. The Hunters were going to stay at Camp while Artemis when to hunt something.</p><p>When the sky began to lighten, Artemis muttered, "About time. He's so lazy during the winter"</p><p>"You may want to close your eyes," Artemis advised, "at least until he parks"</p><p>I averted my eyes and saw that the Hunters were doing the same. The light and warmth intensified until I felt like my clothes where melting off of me. Then suddenly the light died.</p><p>I opened my eyes and couldn't believe what I saw. In was in front of us was a red expensive-looking car. It was literally glowing from all the heat it was radiating, making the snow melt around it in a perfect circle. The driver got out, smiling. He looked about 17 or 18, had sandy blonde hair and good looks. He was tall and his smile was bright and playful. He was wearing jeans and loafers under a sleeveless t-shirt.</p><p>I heard Thalia and Percy talking next to me.</p><p>"Wow, Apollo this hot"</p><p>"Of course, he's the sun god"</p><p>"That's not what I meant" Thalia replied annoyed.</p><p>~~</p><p>After an... interesting ride in Apollo's Chariot, which had turned into a school bus, we arrived at Camp.</p><p>The only word to describe it was, amazing.</p><p>There was a climbing wall that poured lava on the campers, an Arts and Crafts room, a beautiful Dining Pavilion, a Forge, and the most amazing, the Big House.</p><p>The Big House was decorated with strings of red and yellow fire balls that warmed the porch but didn't seem to catch anything on fire. Inside, flames crackled in the hearth. The air smelt like hot chocolate. There were two men playing a quiet game of cards in the parlor. One man had brown curly hair, a fuzzy sweater with hoof prints designed on it, and a blanket on his lap. The other man had a neon orange leopard-skin warm-up suit and purple running shoes. A Golden Laurel was tilted sideways on his curly black hair.</p><p>"Hello," the brown-haired man said turning to us. "My name is Chiron, and you must be..."</p><p>"Keith Kogane and Nico di Angelo" I answered.</p><p>"It is a pleasure to have you here at Camp, right Mr. D?"</p><p>The other guy, Mr. D, hadn't even looked up from his cards.</p><p>"Yes, yes, have a great stay here" he said with annoyance.</p><p>"Wait!" Nico exclaimed. "You're the wine dude!"</p><p>Mr. D looked up at him. "The wine dude?" he repeated.</p><p>"Yes, Dionysus, I think, you're a god" Nico looked ready to jump up and down.</p><p>"I like this kid; he knows his gods. I will even ignore he called me wine dude"</p><p>He drank a bit of Diet Coke and turned to me. His eyes widened in amusement.</p><p>Chiron gave me a kind smile. "Grover, why don't you go show them the Orientation Film?"</p><p>"Sure thing Chiron" with that, Grover took us to the Amphitheater and played the most horrendous thing I had ever seen. Apollo had obviously been the producer since he was there in every scene. (A/N: For more details check Camp Half-Blood Confidential)</p><p>~while the Quest people were at Hoover Dam (Keith and Nico stayed at Camp) ~</p><p>Before Bianca left, both Nico and I hugged her. We also took a picture. Bianca was in the middle in her Hunter uniform, she was smiling with her arms around Nico and I. Nico was to her right holding some Mythomagic cards and smiling brightly, he had been mad when she joined the Hunters, but got over it because at least she would visit and he could still play with me. I was to Bianca's left, smiling in a Camp t-shirt. Little did we know, it would be the last hug we ever shared.</p><p>Lately, I had been hearing a painful ringing in my ears. Nico had commented he had them too. Both of us were staying at Cabin 11 since they had not yet claimed us. I had a bad feeling in my stomach.</p><p>As I was walking to the training arena with Nico and the Hermes kids, the ringing in my ears got louder. I fell to my knees clutching my head. All I remember were Apollo campers rushing over to us before everything was consumed by darkness.</p><p>~Dream~</p><p>I was standing in some kind of junkyard in the middle of the dessert. I saw the 5 from the prophecy fighting some kind of giant robot. I couldn't hear anything, but I guessed their voices were alarmed.</p><p>I saw Nico standing next to me. He must have passed out too. I could tell he, too, had a bad feeling about this. We both watched Bianca shout something at Percy, then drop something in his hand. She went under the robot and I understood what she was going to do. I squeezed Nico's hand, then watched as the giant robot collapsed. I tried to call out her name, but no sound came out.</p><p>Tears started streaming down my face as I recalled the damned prophecy,</p><p>One shall be lost in the land without rain</p><p>Bianca. It was talking about Bianca.</p><p>~~<br/>
I woke up and hugged my knees. I was at the infirmary. Nico was on the bed next to mine. He was crying too. At that moment, I knew any innocent part of him had been ripped away. He wouldn't be the same.</p><p>That night, I had a dream. It was Bianca standing what appeared to be a court, but it was conformed by ghosts. I heard the one in the middle shout "ELYSIUM", then the dream vanished.</p><p>We stayed there for two days, and the week after only the quest campers returned. Nico had chosen to act oblivious to the dream. He went in and asked for Bianca, me behind him. I could tell by the look Chiron gave Percy that the dreams had been correct. Bianca really was gone.</p><p>Percy led the both of us outside and explained as calmly as he could about Bianca's sacrifice. I tuned him out, lost in my own thoughts.</p><p>Bianca is gone. What am I supposed to do? Be there for Nico, that's for sure. I can't shut myself out, he needs me. Would everything be fine again?</p><p>I was taken out of my thoughts by a shout. "YOU PROMISED!" Nico yelled with so much hurt and betrayal my heart shattered.</p><p>Percy looked hurt, but just then, some skeletons came with their weapons raised. "GO AWAY!" Nico shouted. A big crevice opened in the ground and the skeletons fell in, then it closed leaving just a small crack.</p><p>Nico turned and ran away, I gave an apologetic look to Percy and followed him. He was standing at the edge of the forest.</p><p>"Please, let me go"</p><p>"Nico-"</p><p>"Please. I... I need some time" he repeated.</p><p>I didn't want to, but if he needed that, then I would go. As I was turning around, I heard Nico ask,</p><p>"Are we siblings?"</p><p>I stopped in my tracks, and sure enough, there was a symbol over my head. "Great, dad chose the best moment to claim me," I thought. I noticed Nico had the same symbol above his head, we were indeed siblings, I guessed Bianca would be too. That's why the lawyer, if she even was one, wanted us to stay together. The children of Hades.</p><p>"I guess we are" I told Nico.</p><p>He walked to where I was and gave me a hug. We cried there for a while, until he spoke.</p><p>"I don't want to leave you, but I can't stay here"</p><p>"It's okay. We could go together, Neeks"</p><p>He smiled at the old nickname, then motioned for me to follow him and walked into the forest.</p><p>I heard Percy calling for us, but I ignored him. I wasn't going to leave Nico on his own, brother or not.</p><p>We arrived at Zeus's fist. We were climbing the rocks when we fell through a hole we hadn't seen before.</p><p>Our breathing echoed against stone. It was wet and cold. We were standing on a bumpy floor that seemed to be made of bricks. I lifted my mom's blade, the one I took with me everywhere. The faint glow of the purple symbol illuminated the mossy stone walls on either side of us. We were in some sort of corridor.</p><p>There was a warm breeze, but it felt old and dangerous somehow. I looked up to see where we had fallen in. The ceiling was solid stone. The corridor seemed to stretch endlessly in both directions. I looked around the walls and saw a Greek symbol, an ancient Greek Delta. I knew what it meant, from my classes with the Athena kids. It was the mark of Daedalus. We were at the Labyrinth.</p><p>A light came from in front of us, and a ghost appeared from it. It was the same ghost that had shouted "ELYSIUM" at the court Bianca was in.</p><p>"Hello, kids. My name is Minos. I will be your guide through the Labyrinth and help you control your powers, by orders of your father".</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>First chapter is up! Hope you liked it :)<br/>- CHB</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 1.5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Kind of the same as Chapter 1, but with different POV (mostly third person) and some behind the scenes. You can skip this if you want (but it would be appreciated if you read it).</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>~when they were heading back to school after the city trip (before Grover) ~</p><p>After finishing his shift with the bus, a satyr made his way towards the forest. There, he used some mist to create a rainbow and chanted some words.</p><p>"Chiron," the satyr said. "I got three powerful ones at Westover Hall with a possible monster"</p><p>"I will send someone there, thank you for keeping an eye out Greg"</p><p>The connection was cut, and the satyr proceeded to head home for the night.</p><p>~starting at Dance time~</p><p>Grover led the trio to the gym. "How many are there?" Thalia asked.</p><p>"Three" Grover answered. "Very powerful too"</p><p>"Three?!" Percy exclaimed, obviously surprised. Grover nodded.</p><p>"Bianca, Nico and Keith" Grover explained. "Bianca and Nico are siblings, but Keith isn't. Unless their parent is the same god, they've got no relation to each other. Although they do consider each other family"</p><p>"Who's the monster?" Percy asked.</p><p>"You just met him, Dr. Thorn. He's always had his eyes on the three, probably since the start of the year. And there's no way he's letting them go" Grover answered. "The funny thing is that Keith smells kind of different. Like a demigod, yes. But also like something else, not monster, but something else"</p><p>~after Annabeth fell off the cliff~</p><p>"Ye can come out now" Zoë called.</p><p>Keith looked at Bianca, and after a small nod from her, he helped Nico up. The trio walked from behind the bush they were hiding toward the others. None of the demigods missed how Artemis's eyes widened for a bit after seeing Keith before going back to their original expression.</p><p>Artemis' POV</p><p>As soon as I saw the boy, I could tell he wasn't only a demigod. Then, it hit me. He was Galra, well half. Half Galra, half god. While on the Moon Chariot, I had heard from traveling aliens that the Galra Empire was getting stronger and stronger over the last ten thousand years. 75 years ago, I saw a Galran ship pass through the atmosphere. A Galra woman had emerged from it close to an organization called the Galaxy Garrison. 5 years later, I saw the same ship get out of Earth. The woman along with it. It was obvious the kid didn't know about his heritage. The woman must have left him here to protect him from their race, since their species are overprotective with their own offspring, and I respect that.</p><p>~time skip to Camp~</p><p>Demigods POV</p><p>After they discussed a couple of things with Chiron, Percy and Thalia turned to leave. While passing Mr. D, they heard him mutter, "I thought she went away, must have left the kid here"</p><p>~big time skip~</p><p>They spent days searching for Keith and Nico, but never found them. One thing was clear, though. Both were the children of Hades, from the 1930's, but children of Hades, nonetheless. Thalia had seen the claiming from the Big House's porch, probably the whole Camp had. After that, Thalia left with the Hunters. Sometime after, a guy named Quintus appeared with a hellhound pet named Mrs. O'Leary. Percy and Annabeth were getting ready for a new game in the forest Quintus had prepared. Little did they know that they were about to make an important discovery that could either help them, or be their fall in the upcoming war.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks to the ones that read this :)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Battle of Manhattan</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Since we met Minos, we have been training with our powers. Sure, we passed out sometimes, but it was cool. Nico had the ability to summon the dead, like skeletons and spirits (it would leave him drained if he tried to use Hell Fire). I could create Hell Fire (but it would most likely leave me drained or passed out for a week if I tried to raise the dead). Hell Fire was similar to Greek Fire, except it could only be summoned and stopped by a child of Hades. Both of us could speak to ghosts and Shadow Travel. Minos had explained to us that we could trade a soul for a soul and bring Bianca back from the dead. I knew we were doing Minos's dirty work, but we were both blinded by the idea of seeing our sister alive again.</p><p>After a while, we were thrown out of the Labyrinth, probably by a hidden exit. We arrived at what looked like a ranch. There were red cows eating the grass. A guy approached us; he was wearing a 'don't mess with Texas' shirt. "Who are you? he asked.</p><p>"We are just passing by" I answered, maybe a little too quickly. "Nice ranch"</p><p>The man's eyes narrowed, "Half-Bloods" he said.</p><p>"How did you know?" Nico asked.</p><p>"I know because I am one, Eurityon, son of Ares" he introduced himself. "You came from the Labyrinth I suppose, most people do" We nodded.</p><p>"Ask him if you can come inside, Geryon knows a lot about the soul exchange" Minos instructed.</p><p>"Can we come inside?" Nico asked.</p><p>"Are you sure?"</p><p>"Yeah"</p><p>He started to lead us to the porch "Don't break the rules" he warned us, "No fighting, no drawing weapons, and no making any comments about the boss's appearance"</p><p>I was about to ask why, when a man with three chests came out, "Welcome to Triple G Ranch" he greeted us. "I'm Geryon"</p><p>"Hello sir," I started politely, you never knew when someone could kill you, "I'm Keith and this is my brother Nico, we were wondering if we could stay for a while to discuss some business with you?"</p><p>Geryon smiled, "Of course you can stay. In fact," he added, "let me give you a tour of the ranch"</p><p>He led us inside the glass doors. "So, what's the business you needed to discuss?"</p><p>"We need to find a soul that has escaped Hades' reach for centuries"</p><p>"I think I know who you're talking about" he started, "but this will have to wait a bit, our new visitors have arrived. You may stay here"</p><p>Nico and I proceeded to play Mythomagic, it had become a habit since we left Camp. We would sit together in front of the Hell Fire I summoned to keep us warm and play for hours. After a round, we started to get alarmed and decided to go outside.</p><p>"Geryon, we won't wait for-" Nico stopped when he saw Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and a cyclops. He was about to draw out his sword, but I stopped him. "Rules" I mouthed. He proceeded to glare at the newcomers.</p><p>"Come along folks. It's time I give you a tour of the ranch" Geryon announced.</p><p>A while into the tour, I wasn't really paying attention to whatever the rest were talking about, a horrible smell hit my nose. I gagged.</p><p>"What is that?" Nico asked.</p><p>"My stables!" Geryon said. After a conversation I mostly tuned out because I was too concentrated on trying to get the smell off of my nose, I only heard bits like 'Luke' and 'Army', Nico got out of the car and stormed over to Geryon.</p><p>"We came here for business, Geryon. And you haven't answered us" Nico said.</p><p>"Yes, you'll get a deal alright"</p><p>"Our ghost told us you would help. He said you could guide us to the soul we need"</p><p>"Wait a second" Percy said, "I thought I was the soul you needed"</p><p>Nico looked at him with disbelief "You? Bianca's soul is worth a thousand of yours! Now, can you help me, Geryon, or not?"</p><p>"Oh, I imagine I could. Your ghost friend by the way, where is he?"</p><p>I looked uneasily at Nico "He can't form in broad daylight. It's hard for him. But he's around somewhere" I replied.</p><p>Geryon smiled. "I'm sure. Minos likes to disappear when things get...difficult"</p><p>"Minos? You mean the evil king? That's the ghost whose been giving you advice?" Percy questioned.</p><p>"It's none of your business, Percy! And what do you mean difficult?" Nico protested.</p><p>"You see Nico, Luke Castellan is offering very good money for half-bloods. Especially powerful ones. And I'm sure that once he learns your little secret, and what your brother is, he'll pay very well indeed"</p><p>"What do you mean what I am? I'm just a demigod" I said.</p><p>"You honestly have no idea, do you? Well, that's for you to find out then" Geryon answered. "Eurytion, secure the half breed"</p><p>Eurytion quickly picked me up and tied my hands. "Hey!" I protested.</p><p>I didn't dare to move; they would hurt Nico if I did. It seems he reached the same conclusion because he looked at the ground in defeat. I started to feel a tickling sensation in my hand. I looked at it and it was slowly turning purple. I began to panic, "WHAT THE HADES?!" I thought. Out of instinct, I closed my eyes and tried to relax. I felt someone injecting something into my neck, and I dropped unconscious.</p><p>Third person POV</p><p>When Eurytion picked up Keith, Nico looked at the ground in defeat. All of a sudden, Keith's eyes started to glow yellow. All of them were surprised.</p><p>"Sedate him!" Geryon shouted alarmed.</p><p>Eurytion inserted a syringe into Keith's neck and he fell limp in his arm.</p><p>Keith's POV</p><p>When I opened my eyes, I was still in the ranch, but there was no one here. I heard voices outside. I stepped out and saw Bianca, but in ghost form. How was she here? Nico and I had been trying to summon her for months! She was talking to Nico, probably about not blaming Percy. I slowly walked towards them, feeling a bit dizzy. I stood by Nico's side. She then turned and smiled at me,</p><p>"I am proud of both of you" she continued. "When I became a spirit, Father informed me of many things regarding you two. Keith, you will face many challenges in the years to come. You must promise me that you won't blame yourself for things you think you might had been able do anything to change them"</p><p>"I- I promise" I said.</p><p>"I just want you to know to be proud of who you are, it doesn't matter what others say. And remember, patience yields focus, you'll need it." With that she sighed. "Tartarus stirs, your power draws the attention of Kronos. The dead must return to the Underworld. It's not safe for us to remain" Bianca warned.</p><p>"Wait, please-" Nico started</p><p>"Goodbye Nico, Keith. I love you, remember what I said" her form shivered and disappeared.</p><p>Seems like we are sticking with Percy and the rest of the gang now.</p><p>~time skip to when Percy came back from exploding the Princess Andromeda~</p><p>I was at the training deck with Nico. After the Battle of the Labyrinth, I have been training nonstop. I know I should not blame myself for it, as Bianca said, but it was hard. Everything that happened seemed like it was my fault.</p><p>I heard shouts coming from the beach, so we went to check it out. Percy was back, but there was no sign of Charles Beckendorf, son of Hephaestus. I had the same ringing I had when Bianca passed away, only a little bit less intense and I did stay conscious.</p><p>I guess I now know what the ringing means, someone close to me has died. Beckendorf was always kind to me when I first arrived at Camp. He had become like the older brother I never had. He actually looked like he enjoyed spending time with me, not just doing it out of pity. He even learned to play Mythomagic, and always played with me and Nico. Once he started dating Silena Beauregard, daughter of Aphrodite, both of them hung out with us.</p><p>"-blew up" I heard Percy say.</p><p>I saw Silena push through the crowd "Where's Charlie?" she demanded. I braced myself for the answer.</p><p>Chiron cleared his throat "Silena, my dear, let's talk about this at the Big House-"</p><p>"No" she muttered, "No, No"</p><p>She started to cry. We all stood around, stunned. We had already lost so many people. Clarisse came forward and put her arm around Silena. "Come on girl, let's get to the Big House" Clarisse said gently, "I'll make you some hot chocolate". The crowd started to disperse, I went into my small corner at Cabin 11 and cried myself to sleep.</p><p>~~</p><p>I woke up when it was time for dinner. After sacrificing to the gods and eating in the overly crowded Hermes table, Percy called Nico and I over and told us the prophecy. It was really nice (note the sarcasm):</p><p>"A child of the eldest gods,<br/>
Shall reach sixteen against all odds.<br/>
And see the world in endless sleep,<br/>
A hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap.<br/>
A single choice might end his days,<br/>
Olympus to preserve or raze"</p><p>~~</p><p>Today was August 18, Percy's sixteen birthday. Nico had gotten him to swim on the Styx, so he had a better chance of defeating Luke/Kronos, and had stayed in the Underworld to try to get Father to help.  Unlike me, Nico preferred to spend time in the Underworld. I stayed at Camp to train and made a few friends.</p><p>The older campers and some adult demigods all gathered next to Thalia's Pine Tree. The Ares Cabin refused to join us after an argument they had with the Apollo Cabin. One by one, we boarded the 3 Camp vans that said Delphi Strawberry Service. We arrived at the Empire State Building and got on the elevators to Mount Olympus. The gods are battling Typhon to try to slow him down, so the throne room was empty.</p><p>We all gathered in a small park at the edge of the mountain, looking down at Manhattan. It was completely silent. I had gotten one of the tourist binoculars lined along the railing, it was as if time had stopped.</p><p>"Are they dead?" I heard Silena ask.</p><p>"Not dead" Percy said. "Morpheus has put the entire island of Manhattan to sleep. The invasion has started"</p><p>Annabeth walked in after a while with a shield.</p><p>"Whoa, a video shield" Percy said.</p><p>"One of Daedalus' ideas" Annabeth explained. "I had Beckendorf make this before... Um, anyway, the shield bends sunlight-" I stopped listening to her explanation and instead looked through the binoculars and found Mrs. O'Leary happily eating an overturned hot dog stand.</p><p>"-look"</p><p>We crowded around Annabeth. The image zoomed and spun, then the Central Park Zoo appeared, then zoomed towards East 60th, past Bloomingdale's, then turned into Third Avenue.</p><p>"Whoa" Connor Stoll said. "Back up. Zoom right there"</p><p>"What? Do you see any invaders?" Annabeth asked nervously.</p><p>"No, right there. Dylan's Candy Bar" Connor turned to his brother, grinning. "Dude, it's open. And everyone is asleep. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"</p><p>"Connor!" Katie Gardner scolded. "This is serious! You are not going to look at a candy store in the middle of a war!"</p><p>"Sorry" Connor muttered; he didn't sound sorry.</p><p>After a while, we spotted boats full of monsters approaching Manhattan. There were at least 300 enemies on the way, and there were only around 40 of us.</p><p>"All right, we're going to hold Manhattan" Percy said.</p><p>"But Manhattan is huge" Silena said.</p><p>"We have to. I'll take care of the rivers and the wind gods of the sky, that just leaves room for ground attacks. Let's assume they'll try midtown, as it's the fastest way. Michael, take Apollo to Williamsburg Bridge. Katie, Demeter takes the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, grow plants inside it. Connor, take half of Hermes to the Manhattan Bridge. Travis, you take the other half to Brooklyn Bridge. Silena, Aphrodite goes to the Queens-Midtown Tunnel. The Holland Tunnel, Jake, you take Hephaestus there. Set traps where you need to"</p><p>"For Beckendorf!" the entire Hephaestus Cabin roared.</p><p>"The 59th Street Bridge, Clarisse-" He seemed to remember that Clarisse wasn't there.</p><p>"Athena will take that one" Annabeth saved him from embarrassment. "Malcolm, take them to the Bridge and activate plan 23 along the way like I showed you. I'll go with Percy, then we'll go wherever we're needed"</p><p>"We'll keep in touch with cellphones" Percy continued. "You all know Annabeth's number, right? Pick up a random phone and use it if you need us"</p><p>Travis cleared his throat "Um, if we find a really nice phone-"</p><p>"No, you can't keep it" Percy answered.</p><p>"Hold it, Percy" Jake Mason said. "You forgot the Lincoln Tunnel"</p><p>"How about we take that one?" A voice I recognized as Thalia's said. "The Hunters of Artemis reporting for duty". The Hunters moved out to their assigned location.</p><p>All of the campers looked grim. "You're the greatest heroes of the millennium" Percy started. "It doesn't matter how many monsters come at you. Fight bravely, and we will win"</p><p>He raised Riptide and shouted, "FOR OLYMPUS!" Forty voices shouted in response, and then we left Olympus. On our way down in the elevators, 'Stayin' Alive' started playing. I mentally snorted, how ironic.</p><p>~~</p><p>I went with Connor, as I technically was staying at the Hermes Cabin. When we arrived at the Manhattan Bridge, we quickly started setting traps around the perimeter, then hid. The first wave of monsters arrived, most of them got caught in the traps and the rest stayed back. Once all of them were deactivated, Connor nodded, and we stood up.</p><p>"HERMES!" We charged.</p><p>~~</p><p>I don't know for how long I was there, but they kept coming. I fought each monster like my life depended on it, which it did, and wave after wave turned to golden dust. I summoned Hell Fire and threw it at them, making them dissolve and go back to Tartarus. At some point, they started retreating. Luckily, in our location, only one demigod was badly wounded and there were no casualties.</p><p>I helped Connor carry Cecil back to the Empire State Building, where Apollo campers quickly took him and rushed off. I looked around and saw way much less demigods that there were at the start. Most of them were crying over the loss of a friend or half-sibling, aka, family. We all have or will lose a loved one today. I decided to go rest before the next battle, there would no doubt be as much, if not more, monsters to fight.</p><p>~~</p><p>I woke up to Connor Stoll shaking me. "The army is attacking, go get ready" he said urgently.</p><p>I quickly stood up and put on my armor, grabbed my sword, and went down the elevator. Turns out, it was nighttime. I went inside with Lou Ellen, one of the few Hecate demigods that didn't join Kronos, Katie Gardner, and the Stoll Brothers. While in there, they filled me in on what had happened while I was asleep. Apparently, Prometheus had appeared under a truce flag and offered Percy the option to stand aside. Obviously, he said no. We all would have, we can't let the whole world fall under Kronos's domain, it would be destroyed. And how before that, Annabeth had taken a knife for him. Right now, the Athena Cabin, Percy, the nature spirits, and the Hunters were at Central Park fighting off Hyperion, and for what I heard, the guy was hot, like literally.</p><p>Once we got out of the elevator, we could see the warzone Midtown Manhattan had become. Enemies were closing in on us, getting closer and closer to the Olympus. We looked at each other and went out charging towards Kronos's Army. As the night wore on, we were backed up to only a block in front of the entrance to Olympus. Kronos's forces kept pushing us back. At one point, Mrs. O'Leary bounded out of the shadows and ate a Laistrygonian.</p><p>"Hold the line!" Katie shouted.</p><p>The problem was that there were few of us to do so. The entrance to Olympus was twenty feet behind us. We had formed a ring around it. There was a light, and I saw Kronos riding a Golden Chariot towards us. "We have to fall back to the doorway!" Annabeth yelled. "Hold it at all costs!"</p><p>We were about to retreat when a hunting horn sounded, but it wasn't the Hunters. The sound was getting closer, I feared it was more enemies. Kronos's army seemed as confused as us, so it couldn't have been from their side. A shower of arrows raced over our heads and slammed into the enemy vaporizing hundreds of monsters. "Centaurs!" Annabeth yelled.</p><p>The centaur army exploded into our midst. A hundred of them filled the entire block. Chiron appeared across the sea of wild centaurs. He was dressed in armor from the waist up, his bow in his hand. The enemy army fled into the East, and we retreated into the Building. The injured were being treated by the not-too-badly-injured remaining Apollo kids and some others. Suddenly, a roar was heard. Everyone froze, "Prepare yourselves for another attack!" Percy yelled.</p><p>This was bad, we only had sixteen campers, including me, fifteen hunters, and six satyrs in fighting shape. The injured had been taken to Olympus for safety measures. The Hephaestus Cabin was out of Greek Fire and Apollo and the Hunters were scavenging for arrows. The Party Ponies, aka wild centaurs, were all drunk. I doubted they would be much help. A roar sounded again, it seemed closer. I overheard Chiron talking that it was a drakon, one of the strongest monsters, and just our luck, this one could only be beaten by a child of Ares.</p><p>"I'LL TAKE THE DRAKON!" Percy yelled. "Everyone else, hold the line against the army!"</p><p>We started fighting the waves of monsters that came at us. A couple of dracanae managed to sneak behind me and landed a hit before I killed them with Hell Fire.</p><p>"ARES!" A feminine voice shouted. Through the corner of my eye I saw chariots with a boar's head charging towards the battle. At the front, there was Clarisse, leading her Cabin into battle with the drakon.</p><p>"Ares, to me!" Clarisse exclaimed, but her voice sounded a little different. She charged the drakon, but I didn't see the rest, to busy trying to keep myself alive.</p><p>"NO, WHY!" I heard a voice shout through the battlefield. "WHY?" It demanded again. "YOU WANT DEATH? WELL COME ON!"</p><p>I turned around to see Clarisse in her Camp shirt charge at the drakon without armor. I kept battling until the monsters started to retreat a little. Clarisse was a demon in battle, killing every monster that stood in her path. Suddenly, she started to glow red.</p><p>"The blessing of Ares" I heard Thalia mutter.</p><p>"I AM CLARISSE, DRAKON SLAYER!" she yelled, "I will kill you ALL!"</p><p>The monsters fell back behind a wall of dracanae, Clarisse daring them to attack her. Meanwhile, we were attending to the wounded inside the lobby. The enemy retreated. I heard rumors of Silena being the spy for Kronos. I don't care, she died a hero and will be remembered as such. Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and Thalia had gone up to Olympus to stand as final defense in case Kronos made it past us, which he will. We were positioned at the doors of the Empire State Building. I looked towards the approaching army, and saw Kronos leading them. "This is it", I thought.</p><p>I fought as best as I could, but an empousa managed to land a hit in my sword hand. The weapon dropped to the ground. I quickly summoned Hell Fire and burned her, but a group of dracanae were already closing in around me. I created a small fire ring, me inside it. The dracanae stopped. Too late, I realized that they weren't the real enemy, a giant smashed their club into my head, and I fell unconscious.</p><p>~~</p><p>When I woke up, I was at Olympus. I quickly sat up and looked around. Everyone was recovering and helping around. The city was destroyed, but if we were here, that must mean we won. Later, they told us what happened. Hestia made us sit across the hearth like little kids waiting to be told a story. We made eye contact, and suddenly I was back at the battlefield. Campers and Hunters wounded on the ground. Clarisse and her chariot were frozen in a block of ice and the centaurs were nowhere to be seen. The Titan Army ringed the building, standing maybe 20 feet away from the doors. Suddenly, Mrs. O'Leary arrived, with Nico on top of her in full battle armor. Nico strode forward, and the enemy fell down before him like he radiated death, which he most likely did. Then Hades, Demeter, and Persephone came along with an skeleton army and fought Kronos's army. The mortals awoke and Percy's parents started to fight monsters. Sally had always been kind to me, like a mother. She always offers me and Nico blue cookies. She is our motherly figure in this century. Kronos went inside the elevators to Olympus with Percy, Annabeth, Thalia and Grover hot on his trail. Up in Olympus, Luke managed to retake control from Kronos and used Annabeth's dagger to stab himself on his Achilles heel, making him and Kronos defeated. All of a sudden, I was back at the throne room sitting in front of the Hearth. I could tell the same had happened to the other demigods, because they were looking as shocked as I felt. Hestia smiled,</p><p>"Off you go then, young heroes" she said.</p><p>We made our way out and into the elevators. The Camp's vans were already waiting outside for us. Once we got to Camp, we proceeded to burn the fallen heroes' shrouds. They would make it to Elysium for sure.</p><p>~~</p><p>It had been a quiet couple of days since the war. Percy and Annabeth finally got together, and some campers dumped them into the lake. Rachel Dare had become the new Oracle and made a new prophecy. I just hoped it wouldn't involve us. Of course, with Percy's luck, it wasn't possible. A shout was heard through Camp, it was coming from Cabin 3.</p><p>"What on Father's name was that?!" Nico asked. He had his aviator jacket covering his skulls pajama, sword at the ready. He loves to sleep late.</p><p>Chiron galloped to where the scream was heard. "Annabeth, what's wrong?" we heard him ask.</p><p>"Percy's missing"</p><p>"Are you sure?"</p><p>"I am, I've called Sally, I've checked the whole camp, I've tried IMing him, he's gone" she said between sobs.</p><p>"COUNCELOR MEETING IN THE BIG HOUSE NOW!"</p><p>~~<br/>
It has been three days since Percy went missing and Camp's on chaos. Annabeth had left earlier due to a dream about Percy sent by Hera. We were all waiting eagerly outside. We saw a chariot approaching in the distance, and it crash landed on the lake. Out came Annabeth, and three more kids. Once Nico saw them, he turned pale and made a rush to our cabin. I followed him inside and closed the door.</p><p>"Hey, you ok?"</p><p>He nodded. "Tell Annabeth I'll be searching for Percy, I- I think I might have a lead on where he is". With that, he shadow traveled to gods know where.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>In case you didn't realize, Nico turned paler because he saw Jason and recognized him.<br/>~CHB</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Tartarus, Giant War, New Quest</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Third person/Keith's POV</p><p>Turns out, there were also the Roman Gods. I mean, seriously! I can barely deal with Greek Olympians, and now I have to deal with the Roman ones too?! Which are next, Egyptians?! </p><p>Percy was at the Roman Camp. Leo and the Hephaestus Cabin were building a massive ship called the Argo II to sail over the Atlantic to Greece. Gaea, aka Mother Earth, was rising and wanted to destroy the gods, her grandchildren. Not the best grandma ever, I guess.</p><p>Anyways, these past few months, Nico had been going in and out of Camp, so I didn't see him much. I was normally alone, no one wanted to spent time with a child of Hades. I had some friends, I guess. Jake, the Stolls, Malcolm, Katie, Jason, Piper, and Leo were always nice to me and sometimes hung out with me. I did the normal Camp activities. We mostly played Capture the Flag, and Canoe and Chariot races. I dedicated myself to train in my spare time, plus the lessons by the Athena kids. Unless I'm with Nico, I don't play Mythomagic anymore. I miss Beckendorf, Silena, Lee, and Michael, they were my only friends before the war, but they all died. After the war, we started building the Hades Cabin, a few skeletons helped. I also have accepted that these times are different than the 1930's and came out of the closet as gay, to myself. I didn't need another thing to make me more distanced from the rest of the campers. I spent some time at the Underworld too. I visited Bianca, Beckendorf, Silena, Lee, and Michael. I spend hours with them.</p><p>Anyhow, it's late at night, and I can't sleep. I heard the familiar whooshing sound of shadow traveling and saw Nico packing extra nectar and ambrosia along with survival stuff.</p><p>"Going somewhere?" I asked.</p><p>He jumped, then calmed down once he realized it was me.</p><p>"Yeah" he mumbled.</p><p>I started at him expectantly "Where to?"</p><p>"Tartarus" I fell off the bed.</p><p>"Seriously, where are you going?"</p><p>"I told you, Tartarus"</p><p>"You're not serious"</p><p>"I have to, the Doors of Death have to be closed, and they're in Tartarus. It's the reason why monsters have been reforming so quickly"</p><p>"Then I'll go with you"</p><p>"I have to do this alone"</p><p>"Well, too bad, 'cause I'm coming"</p><p>He sighed in defeat, knowing I was as stubborn as he was. I grabbed my things and left a note for Chiron. Together, we shadow traveled outside Hades's palace. From there, we walked to the entrance to the pit.</p><p>"You don't have to do this you know" Nico tried one last time.</p><p>"No, I have to. You're my brother and I'm not letting you go alone" </p><p>And with that, we jumped.</p><p>~~</p><p>It feels like we've been in here forever. After what felt like days, we landed painfully in something that seemed like shattered glass. We are now following the Phlegethon to get across this disgusting land. Walking on skin is disgusting, how do mosquitoes and germs do it? I heard a sound behind us. Monsters were approaching, there were too many. I knew we wouldn't defeat them.</p><p>"Go" I told Nico.</p><p>"What?"</p><p>"GO! You and I both know we won't be able to defeat that many monsters in their home territory"</p><p>"But-"</p><p>"I promised Bianca I'd keep you safe, and I don't intend to break it. Now, GO!"</p><p>I saw him run, I could tell he didn't want to, but at least one of us had to make it to the doors. I hope they don't get him. I killed a couple of dracanae and some empousai, but they captured me, nonetheless.</p><p>~~</p><p>I was getting closer to the Doors; I could sense them. When I was able to get a look at them, my blood froze. Monsters. Thousands of them were lined up in front of us, like they've been expecting us, which they probably were. If Nico managed to make it, there was no doubt he'd be captured. They took me to some kind of base. There, a monstrous thing appeared, I could only assume this was Tartarus himself. I heard a commotion outside and looked just in time to see a giant grab Nico and put him in a jar.</p><p>"Well, well, well, what do we have here? I haven't seen your kind in a long time" with that, Tartarus grabbed a knife and stabbed me in the arm.</p><p>~~</p><p>I have been here for years, but time was different. Ten years in the pit would only be one month in the surface, I don't think anybody missed me. I didn't age, I don't know if that is good or bad, considering my circumstances. I have my daily sessions of torture. Tartarus himself would come and do it. He would whip me, hit me, punch me, cut me all over my body, then stab me on my arms and legs, and sometimes on my stomach. Sometimes, he would shoot me with some poisoned arrows, but always stopped in time for some nectar and ambrosia to heal me. Every time, I wondered how Nico was doing in that jar they put him in. They moved it up after a month here, and I was left alone. Tartarus came in, but with an annoyed expression on his face.</p><p>"Your friends have reached Rome; they shall come for you shortly" he said. I felt myself being picked up, probably by a giant and brought to the Doors. I lost consciousness.</p><p>~~</p><p>I woke up just in time to feel the giant pushing me inside a jar, the same one Nico was in. If there wasn't any space before, there was less now. I saw him paler than before, he looked dead. I was afraid he was for a moment; I couldn't have felt the ringing because I already was in pain, but then I saw the seed packet in his hands and realized he was in a death trance, clever. With that, I passed out again.</p><p>~~</p><p>When I woke up again, I heard screams. Then, I hit the floor. Wait, what? I opened my eyes and saw Piper, Jason, and Percy fighting the giants. I caught glimpses of the battle but was too weak to do anything. I hated it. I sat up and saw the battle had already finished. Next to me, Nico was looking around in bewilderment. Using the others as support, we managed to get out of wherever they were keeping us. I think Percy and Jason were fighting the giants along with the Roman version of Mr. D, since giants can only be killed by a combination of god and demigod, but I'm too tired to focus enough to see. After the battle, I walked into the Argo II, then was put into a room and fell asleep.</p><p>~~</p><p>Apparently, Percy and Annabeth had fallen into Tartarus, I winced at the name. I also had a half-sister named Hazel. She is really nice. When she said she is dating Frank, Nico and I gave him our best death glares. He shivered and turned pale, I guess he got the message, 'you hurt her, we hurt you'. Nico was leading the crew towards the House of Hades, where the Doors were located. I spent all that time in recuperation along with Nico, he just had to eat more while I had to do a diet of nectar and ambrosia for the cuts. That was practically all I did until they rescued Percy and Annabeth. Reyna had arrived while they were inside, and sadly had to sacrifice her pegasus, Scipio, because he had too many wounds. A decision was made. Nico, Reyna, and Coach Hedge would shadow travel and bring the Athena Parthenos to Camp while the seven went to Athens to stop the giants from raising Gaea. I was still way too weak to shadow travel, I could barely lift myself up. Unlike Nico, I had gone through torture and then put in the jar. Surprisingly, Hades himself appeared.</p><p>"You have done well son, but your destiny awaits you" With that, he touched my head and I was consumed by darkness.</p><p>~~</p><p>Third person POV</p><p>Keith was floating in darkness. All around him were shadows. They whispered between one another. All hailing their king.</p><p>Keith's POV</p><p>I was unconscious, but that did not stop the dreams from coming. When I opened my eyes, I was blinded by the light for a moment. Then, everything came rushing back to me. Tartarus, the Doors, Hades. I sat up quickly and a wave of dizziness overtook me. When my sight focused again, I saw I was at the Hades Cabin at Camp. It felt good to be home. It was just as we'd left it, apart from the dust. I walked outsidd and observed my surroundings. At the distance, I could see the Romans' flag. But it felt wrong, like I wasn't entirely there. I saw people coming towards me, but they passed right through me. That's when I realized, I was a shadow.</p><p>~~</p><p>I saw the Greeks send Lou Ellen, Cecil, and Will as scouts to sabotage the Roman's onagers. It worked. Giant balls of fire flew through the sky and collapsed with each other. I followed the rest of the Greeks to the crest of Camp.</p><p>"Romans, you have fired on our camp! Withdraw or be destroyed!" Clarisse yelled.</p><p>"CHARGE!" Octavian yelled.</p><p>The Romans and monsters approached, when suddenly, Reyna and the Athena Parthenos came flying in.</p><p>"DON'T BE STUPID, LOOK!" Will yelled.</p><p>"GREEK DEMIGODS!" Reyna's voice boomed as if projected from the statue itself. "Behold your most sacred statue, the Athena Parthenos, wrongly taken by the Romans. I return it to you now as a gesture of peace!"</p><p>"ROMANS!" Reyna yelled, "I do this for the good of the legion, for the good of Rome. Stand together with our Greek brethren!</p><p>"Listen to her!" Nico marched forward. "Reyna risked her life for all of you! We brought this statue halfway across the world, Roman and Greek working together, because we must join forces. Gaea is rising. If we don't work together-"</p><p>"YOU WILL DIE" a voice shook the earth, "A FUTILE GESTURE, BUT IF IT MAKES YOU HAPPY, YOU MAY DIE TOGETHER"</p><p>"CLOSE RANKS" Reyna yelled.</p><p>The monsters attacked. It was all out war, it brought back terrible flashbacks of the Titan War. At one point, I saw the Argo II fly in. I kept looking at the battle.</p><p>"Greeks!" Percy shouted, "Let's, um, fight stuff!"</p><p>I grinned. I loved my camp. Suddenly, they began to sink like they were standing on quicksand.</p><p>"AWAKE" a voice boomed all around.</p><p>"Stand fast!" Piper shouted, "Greeks and Romans, we can fight her together!"</p><p>Gaea laughed, "The whole Earth is my body. How would you fight the goddess of-"</p><p>WHOOOSH! In a flash of bronze, Gaea was swept off the hillside, snarled in the claws of a metal dragon, Festus.</p><p>"Piper, Jason, you coming? The fight is up here!" Leo shouted.</p><p>As soon as Gaea was up in the sky, the ground solidified again. Most demigods had sunk to their knees but managed to pull them out. A giant explosion turned the sky gold. The monsters ran away, knowing Gaea had been defeated. The celebration was muted, due to grief. There were few casualties, both Greek and Roman, but the real sacrifice, was made by Leo Valdez.</p><p>~~</p><p>The next day, both Romans and Greeks worked side-by-side to clean up the war zone and tend the wounded. By evening, the general mood had improved somewhat. The dining hall Pavilion have never been so crowded. They welcomed the Romans like old friends. Coach Hedge ran among the demigods, beaming and holding his baby satyr. I smiled at this, even though they couldn't see or hear me, it made me happy that the two Camps had found peace. Chiron stepped forward and raised his goblet. "Out of every tragedy, comes new strength. Today, we thank the gods for this victory. To the Gods!"</p><p>"To the gods!" the enthusiasm was muted.</p><p>Then, Chiron added, "and to new friends!"</p><p>"TO NEW FRIENDS!" everyone cheered. Me as well.</p><p>After a few songs, Reyna and Frank were called to the front. "Tomorrow," Reyna said "we Romans must return home. We appreciate your hospitality, especially since we almost killed you-"</p><p>"You mean you almost got killed!" Annabeth corrected.</p><p>"Whatever Chase"</p><p>"Oooooooooh!" the crowd said as one. Then everybody started laughing.</p><p>"Anyway," Frank took over, "Reyna and I agree this marks a new era of friendship between the camps"</p><p>"We may fight a lot of battles in the future. But from now on, we fight together!"</p><p>Everyone cheered again.</p><p>"So, thank you, all of you. We could have chosen hatred and war. Instead we found acceptance and friendship." Reyna concluded, "We had one home, now, we have two"</p><p>The crowd roared with approval. That was a night to remember.</p><p>~~</p><p>Everything around me was playing like an old movie, I don't know for how long it was like that, but I hated being not being able to do anything. I found myself in my Hades's throne room. I felt myself solidifying. I bowed to my father.</p><p>"Rise, my son" he said.</p><p>I quickly stood up.</p><p>"I suppose you must be wondering why you turned into a shadow, yes?"</p><p>I nodded.</p><p>"You see, the only way to heal you was by magic, you could say, so Hecate and I agreed to make you the Shadow King"</p><p>"The what?" I asked confused</p><p>"The Shadow King. As you already know, your brother, Nico, is the Ghost King, and you are the Shadow King. You have complete control over shadows, even more than your brother, and won't be tired if you shadow travel way too many times at once" he explained.</p><p>"Ok...?"</p><p>"You turned into shadow so your powers could develop, and the shadows would recognize you as their King. I know you want to go back to your siblings, but a more important mission awaits you. I will let you go to Camp for a while to spend time with them, but only for a week"</p><p>"Thank you, father" I bowed, and shadow traveled to my Cabin at Camp. Nico and Hazel came in a while later and launched themselves at me.</p><p>"Where have you been?!" Nico and Hazel exclaimed.</p><p>I quickly explained them about the whole Shadow King thing and the job Hades wanted me to do.</p><p>"I'm so glad you're ok" Hazel said once I had finished.</p><p>"When do you leave?" Nico asked.</p><p>"In about a week" I said.</p><p>Hazel and Nico hugged me, and we went to sleep.</p><p>~~</p><p>The Romans left, but not before they were taught how to IM. Chiron decided to send some demigods to a school called Brooklyn Academy for the Gifted for the school year. Before I knew it, the week passed, and I was at Half-Blood Hill in front of Hades.</p><p>"Keith, you will go to a school called the 'Galaxy Garrison'. In there, you will meet a legacy of Athena called Sam Holt. In case there are any monster attacks, you can go talk to him since he knows about the gods. You will be posing as an orphan, so start thinking about backup stories. You will be able to come back home for the holidays, but just say you want to explore for yourself. Ok?"</p><p>"Ok" I said. With that, the shadows engulfed us, and I was standing in front of what I supposed was the Galaxy Garrison.</p><p>"Be careful Keith" Hades warned, "do not reveal under any circumstances about the gods. Use the Mist in case you need to, like Chiron taught you. Zeus has granted you safe passage through the sky, I quote, 'only because he is the least annoying of the bunch'. Also, you will not need to sacrifice anything unless you're back at Camp, where you'll sacrifice to Zeus too. Good luck" Hades disappeared in the shadows.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Sorry for all the timeskips. Anyways, the whole Shadow King stuff will make sense later. WE FINALLY START WITH THE GALAXY GARRISON! 'Till next chapter,<br/>- CHB</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Garrison, arrival at Arus</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I think I've already said this, but just in case I didn't I'll say it again. I DO NOT HAVE ADHD OR DYSLEXIA SO IF ANYTHING IN THIS STORY IS OFFENSIVE TO SOMEONE WHO DOES PLEASE TELL ME. Happy reading!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I didn't have much. All I had packed were my non-camp clothes (which weren't much), a pack of drachmas, ambrosia and nectar, my skull ring (Hades gave it to me as a birthday present and it transforms into a Stygian Iron sword), my mom's dagger, a picture I took with Nico and Hazel, and the picture Bianca, Nico and I had taken before she went on the quest. I smiled looking at it, it reminded me of other times, when everything wasn't as complicated as it is now.</p><p>I took the exam and was accepted (with a tiny bit of help from Commander Holt). After a try in the simulator, I was chosen to be Fighter Pilot. Things weren't much different from Camp; I was still the loner. My cover story was easy. I am an orphan whose father died in a fire and my mom abandoned us when I was a baby. Not a full lie, not a full truth. Rule number 1 of lying, always base it off the truth. There is this guy, Shiro, he took me in like a brother and always helped get me out of trouble (mostly when monsters attacked and the Mist made it seem like I did everything, thanks Mist). He and his boyfriend, Adam, had become like family to me.</p><p>They invited me to celebrate Christmas with them and I gladly accepted. I got each of them a present, it wasn't much, but it was something. I shadow traveled to the Camp store and bought the presents there, so they would be... unique. They got me presents too! The only ones that used to do so were Nico and Hazel. Talking about Hazel and Nico, I had left their presents under my bed at the Cabin so they wouldn't find them. I had IMed them earlier to say Merry Christmas and told them where their presents were. Shiro gave me a red and white jacket, while Adam gave me a pair of black fingerless gloves. I smiled and thanked them. I then gave them their presents. For Shiro, I got a watch. When the owner is in danger, the watch activates and becomes a shield, plus it also tells time. To Adam, I got him a black coffee mug. All in all, it was by far one of the best Christmas's I've had.</p><p>~~</p><p>The school year ended, and I packed my things up to go back to Camp. After telling Sam (he insisted I called him that instead of Commander Holt) that I was going back to Camp (I also told him the excuse Hades gave me so he could explain where I went), I went outside, and shadow traveled to Camp. Camp was filled with demigods returning from the school year. I smiled. I loved Camp, but I was mostly alone. Nico had Will and was happy. I was so glad when they started dating, they are so cute together.</p><p>One day, father called me and Nico to his throne room. He said he wanted us to go with him to the annual "Gods of the Dead" convention. We accepted, not that we actually had a choice. It was held at a 'Hotel Valhalla' in Boston. Turns out, Egyptian and Norse gods are real too ("Great, guess I jinxed it"). I mostly hung out with these guys, Walt, who was hosting the god Anubis, and Magnus, a dead demigod in Odin's eternal army. I talked with the three of them and we became somewhat friends.</p><p>Before I knew it, it was time to go back. I IMed Hazel and said goodbye to Nico and Will, telling the latter to take care of my little brother, then shadow traveled back to the Garrison.</p><p>~~</p><p>It was right before the Kerberos mission that everything got upside down. Shiro and Adam got into a fight and broke up. I was sad, but I knew that when Shiro came back they would apologize to each other. Then, the Mission failed and proclaimed the team dead. I knew it wasn't true, because 1. I would have felt the ringing in my ears, 2. No matter where they were, humans had to go to at least one Underworld, and after checking with Anubis and Magnus (he asked Odin), none of them were in theirs. Adam was extremely sad and pushed himself away from everyone, probably feeling guilty. I wasn't the only one that knew they were alive. A girl managed to hack into the Garrison and prove that they didn't know why the connection was lost, one of the Holts relatives, I think.</p><p>Somehow, I managed to stay in the Garrison for another year, but was expelled around the school year's end. There was this guy, James Griffin, that kept making comments about my 'dead' parents. He insulted my father and I felt the room get a tiny bit colder, the boy was going to get himself killed. James opened his mouth again to throw more insults, but I punched him in the jaw. Without Shiro or Sam, I got expelled from the Garrison.</p><p>I found a shack in a desert and made it my home. Apart from the occasional monster, everything was fine. I had also been detecting this weird source of energy, so I went to check it out. Thankfully, it wasn't any monsters. I didn't need another evil deity rising, thank you very much. It was coming from a cave. It had a lion's drawings on the walls, I started to investigate it.<br/>~~<br/>One night, I saw a bright light make its way into the planet's atmosphere. I quickly swung my bag (which had all my belongings) over my shoulder and shadow traveled close to the crashing site. I took out some of the explosives and set them around the Garrison quarantine tent. I saw a weird space pod being transported. I needed to know what was in the tent, so I summoned Hell Fire and launched it at the explosives. One by one, they went off. While the personnel went over to check on the explosion, I made my way in. The door opened and I raised my fists. Unfortunately, I had to knock out some guards. Well, their fault for guarding. I went in to look at the person inside and stopped short in my tracks.</p><p>"Shiro?"</p><p>I took off the restraints and lifted him off the table, putting his weight on my shoulder and started to make my way to the exit. I heard the door open and looked up to see a very cute boy with blue eyes staring at me. I also saw two other people, but I wasn't really pay much attention to them.</p><p>"Nope. No, no, no. No, you don't. I'm saving Shiro" the cute boy said, walking next to me and draping Shiro's other arm over his shoulder.</p><p>"Who are you?" I asked.</p><p>"Who am I? Uh, the name's Lance" the cu- I mean Lance said like it was obvious, I just stared at him. "We were at the same class at the Garrison"</p><p>"Really, are you an engineer?" I asked, trying to place where I had seen him before.</p><p>"No, I'm a pilot! We were rivals you know, Lance and Keith, neck and neck"</p><p>Then, it hit me. "Oh, wait, I remember you. You're a cargo pilot" I said.</p><p>"Well, not anymore, I'm fighter class now thanks to you dropping out" Lance replied.</p><p>"Well, congratulations" I said.</p><p>Together, we dragged Shiro to a hoverbike that was a bit farther from the rest. It had my father's symbol craved on it, so I guessed he sent it, since I had planned to shadow travel due to Shiro being unconscious.</p><p>"Mind if we catch a ride with you?" Big guy asks, climbing into the bike along with the rest.</p><p>"Is this going to fit all of us?" the small one asked. I couldn't make out if they were a girl or boy.</p><p>"No" I respond. It could actually be able to, but for the average hoverbike it was impossible. I start the vehicle and drive away, the Garrison personnel giving chase to us.</p><p>"Can't this thing go any faster?" Lance asks/complains.</p><p>"We could toss out some non-essential weight" I retort.</p><p>"Okay, so that was an insult" Lance says.</p><p>"Big man, lean left!" I instruct. "Big man, lean right!"</p><p>"Guys, i- is that a cliff up ahead?" Big guy points out.</p><p>"No, no, no!" Lance shouts.</p><p>"Yup" I reply, smirking.</p><p>I focused on how Shiro did it the time he took me out to practice driving these things and dropped from the cliff while everyone else was screaming their lungs out. The Garrison vehicles stayed behind; I drove to my shack. By the time we got there, Shiro was conscious again. I noticed he still had the watch I gave him, but it seemed used. So he had been in danger.</p><p>"Are you ok?" I asked.</p><p>"My head hurts..."</p><p>We led him inside and sat down on the couches. I started walking towards my billboard and pulled down the sheet that was covering it.</p><p>"What have you been working on?" Shiro asked.</p><p>"I can't explain it, really" I started, "After getting booted from the Garrison I- I was kind of lost and found myself getting drawn to this place. At first I thought..." 'At first I thought the gods '. I shook my head. I can't reveal any type of information concerning the gods. "Something..., some energy, was telling me to search"</p><p>"For what?" Shiro asked.</p><p>"I didn't really know at the time, until I stumbled across this area" I said, pointing to the spot marked 'ENERGY SOURCE'. "It's an outcropping of giant boulders covered in ancient markings. Each tells a different story about a Blue Lion. It all led up to some event, an arrival happening last night, and that's when you showed up"</p><p>"I should thank you all for getting me out" Shiro said. "Lance, right?" he asked, walking towards him. Shiro extended his robotic arm. Lance looks at it for a moment before shaking it. He turned to face the other two.</p><p>"The nervous guy's Hunk, I'm Pidge" the small- I mean Pidge said.</p><p>I tuned out the conversation and took my time to actually look at Hunk and Pidge. Hunk had dark olive skin, dark brown hair, and brown eyes. Pidge was short, and had messy, short light brown hair and brown eyes. If it wasn't for my multiple recognize-a-monster skills, I would have said she was a boy. Although I did not know if she was trans. I then started to analyze Shiro. He had a robotic arm now. Which means he encountered civilization. But if he wasn't on Earth, does that mean there're aliens. I not only had to deal with four different god pantheons, but with aliens too?! Was this what Hades meant?</p><p>Talking about the other pantheons, Nico had IMed to tell me that Percy and Annabeth had found out about Egyptian and Norse gods. Turns out that Annabeth's cousin is a Norse demigod (Magnus, now I know why his last name seemed familiar), and they encountered the Kane siblings (Walt/Anubis had talked about Sadie, a lot) How wonderful, now both Camps know too. Back to the conversation, dam ADHD!</p><p>"- look it's his girlfriend" the big guy, Hunk, was saying.</p><p>"Hey! Give me that!" Pidge yelled while grabbing the picture. "What were you doing in my stuff?" she demanded.</p><p>"Well, I was looking for a candy bar, but then started reading his diary-" Hunk started.</p><p>"WHAT?!" Pidge exclaimed, snatching the journal.</p><p>"And I noticed the repeating series of numbers the aliens are searching for. Looks a lot like a Fraunhofer" Hunk continued.</p><p>"A frown... who?" I asked confused. This sounded like something an Athena kid would say while their siblings agreed, and the rest of Camp didn't have any idea of what they were saying.</p><p>"It is a number describing the emission of an element. But the element that it's describing doesn't exist on Earth. So maybe it's Voltron. I think I could build a machine to look for it, kind of like a Voltron Geiger Counter" Hunk explained. Hunk then took out a drawing that matched the edges of one of the mountains near the cave. So, we obviously went there.</p><p>We arrived inside the cave after a long time. "I would have rather shadow traveled, thanks mortals", I thought annoyed. Lance touched the drawings on the rock, and they glowed a blue color. Percy would love this place, I thought, remembering all the blue cookies the Son of Poseidon ate and how he would go all berserk mode if you stole one from him. I felt the earth change, and before we knew it, we fell. In front of us was a robot blue lion. It was huge! Lance knocked on some sort of barrier surrounding it, and the Lion came to life. It showed us an image of five robot lions forming a big humanoid robot, Voltron. The Lion opened its mouth and all of us climbed in, then it took out flying.</p><p>Let me tell you something, Lance is the absolute WORST pilot ever. I was lucky Zeus granted me safe passage, although I could imagine him in his throne laughing because he knew I would die anyways.</p><p>The Lion flew outside the atmosphere, and we encountered an alien ship. Luckily, before we died, some sort of portal opened, and we flew right through it. Afterwards, we landed on a planet that was definitely not Earth. Shiro guessed we were light years away from it. The lion landed in front of a castle-like structure and roared. The castle doors opened, and the lights directed us to a room. Then, two things rose up from the floor and opened. A woman stepped out from it, calling for her father. She had white hair and pointy ears, like an elf. It reminded me painfully of Leo. The Son of Hephaestus wasn't dead, but he has been missing for more than a year. Then, a man with orange hair, pointy ears, and a moustache came out of the other one. They supposedly had been asleep for ten thousand years. The Alteans seemed sad and confused, I could relate. Finding out you were in a Casino for 70 years and everything had changed affects you a lot. Then, she explained about the Galra Empire and Voltron, apparently, I was a Paladin. I was now part of a massive intergalactic war, how nice (note the sarcasm).</p><p>So that's how I ended up in a planet called Arus with two aliens and five robot Lions about to head into yet another war.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Events that happened while they were in space until they go back to Earth.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After the first Galra attack on Arus in an attempt to get the lions, Allura sent us to do team bonding exercises. I was so excited (note the sarcasm). The bonding exercises consisted in getting to trust each other. I already did, growing up as a demigod means to trust anyone on your side, unless you are fairly positive there's a spy.</p><p>So far, it had been terrible. First, we tried out this head thingies that would reflect what we thought about most. We were supposed to think about our lions and make them form Voltron.</p><p>I was trying hard, but my mind always drifted over to Nico and Hazel. I wanted to know if they were ok, demigods could get attacked any second. So, naturally, the images of a smiling Hazel and Nico appeared in the image. Luckily, none of them noticed, they were too concentrated on getting their minds clear. I concentrated hard on Red, and the image gradually changed to my Lion.</p><p>That exercise failed. The next one was to trust each other to get through an invisible maze. It reminded me of the Labyrinth, where you didn't know where each corridor would lead you. I shook those memories away. Ultimately, that exercise failed too.</p><p>The next one were drones that shot you, we had to protect our teammates. I took out my bayard and it assumed the form of my Stygian Iron sword Hades gave me. I quickly slashed towards the drones. I saw Pidge fall through a hole in the floor. I continued to slash until one hit me in the back. The exercise failed, again.</p><p>Allura decided to get us to our Lions and connect with them. That one also failed, Shiro was the only one who managed it. Then, she fired the Castle's defenses at us so we could form Voltron, but failed again.</p><p>As a last attempt, she took us to the training deck and made us fight the 'gladiator'. It went for Pidge first, then Hunk, then Lance and Shiro, and lastly, me.</p><p>When it charged the whole scenery changed and I was back in the Manhattan Bridge, four other campers laid behind me, wounded. The gladiator turned into a dracanae. It charged towards me, but I was faster. I quickly slashed at it, but it didn't turn into dust. I was confused. I slashed again, this time on the chest, and it collapsed. My vision returned to reality and saw the Gladiator defeated in front of me while Allura and the Paladins looked at me in awe.</p><p>I stared at the Gladiator, if we had any battles and I got flashbacks, it wouldn't be good. If that hit hadn't landed, I would have used Hell Fire, and that would take some explanation.</p><p>"-ith! Keith!" I turned to Lance, realizing I had zoned out. "Wow, dude! Where did you learn that?!" Lance exclaimed.</p><p>"Learn what?" I said, getting into my I'm-so-clueless act.</p><p>"The awesome sword moves! It's like you've been practicing all your life!" Pidge added.</p><p>"I don't know, instinct? Before I entered the Garrison, I had to hunt to survive" That wasn’t  a lie; at the Labyrinth, Nico and I hunted for food.</p><p>"It could be from that. Nevertheless, outstanding work Keith" Allura turned to the others. "That was set for an Altean child, you need to train more"</p><p>After that, she let us go eat, handcuffed to each other! It ended up in a food fight, but we worked together so Allura considered it a good work.</p><p>~~</p><p>The next morning, I woke up early and went to grab some breakfast. Then, I went to the training deck and viewed the levels. Level 1 was the easiest and Level 100 was the hardest. I started on level 1 and defeated the robot easily. I skipped the levels from 10 to 10, until I got stuck in Level 70.</p><p>Since they weren't monsters and you had to hit a specific spot on their chest for them to deactivate. It was harder, but I managed. I finished off the robots from Level 75 and went to drink some water. "Level 75 completed" I heard the robotic voice announce.</p><p>It was then I noticed that the rest would be arriving soon. I quickly went to the control panel in the room and hid my progress. </p><p>- - - - -</p><p>After lunch, I went to my room to IM Hazel. Knowing her, she would be worried because I haven't called her in a week. I opened the hot water and pointed a flashlight towards the mist. I hoped IMing worked this far.</p><p>"Oh, Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please accept my offering and show me Hazel Levesque at Camp Jupiter"</p><p>The mist formed Hazel's worried face. Behind her were the rest of the seven, Nico and Reyna.</p><p>"Hey guys" I called.</p><p>"KEITH! Where have you been, we've been so worried-" Hazel started but I cut her off.</p><p>"I'm fine. It's just something came up, that's all"</p><p>She relaxed a little, "What things?"</p><p>I decided to just go straight to the point, "Aliens are real"</p><p>Jason looked like someone had hit him with a brick (it wouldn’t have been the first time).</p><p>"Well...." Percy started, "not the weirdest thing that has happened"</p><p>"Anything we should worry about?" Annabeth asked.</p><p>"Well, there is this race trying to rule the known universe, so in case they attack Earth, just hide in Bunker 9. Although I doubt they would be able to see through the mist"</p><p>She nodded.</p><p>"So you're in outer space now? That's SO COOL!”  Nico exclaimed. “I mean, cool" he put on a disinterested face.</p><p>I chuckled. It reminded me of when he was a little kid. Now he was always gloomy, not that I can complain because I'm probably the same.</p><p>We chatted about the most recent events at Camp, such as how the Aphrodite Cabin shipped Lou Ellen and Cecil. If the Aphrodite Cabin shipped you with someone, you would most likely end up together *cough* Percabeth *cough* Solangelo *cough* Tratie *cough*. Anyways, we were making fun of Jason and the stapler when the Castle's alarms blared.</p><p>"Paladins, to your Lions! The Galra are attacking!" Allura's voice blared through the Castle.</p><p>"Sh*t. I have to go, call you later!" I cut the connection, put on my armor, and went to Red's hangar.</p><p>~~</p><p>We defeated the ship pretty quickly, then went to the bridge.</p><p>"Good work Paladins!" Allura congratulated with a smile. "It's time for a bonding exercise!"</p><p>No’s and why’s were heard, but we went to the lounge room as she instructed and sat.</p><p>"Today, we will share about our childhood"</p><p>I mentally panicked. They can normally tell when I’m lying and the only reason the Garrison didn’t ask for much detail was because Sam said he had already checked my information. I took a deep breath and proceeded to come out with a cover story. I didn't even realize everyone had finished already.</p><p>"What about you Keith?" Allura asked.</p><p>"Well, my mom left me and my father when I was a baby. I don't really know much about her. Then, when I was 7, my father died in a fire. They put me in the foster system, but I ran away. I found an old shack by the desert and hunted to survive. Then I managed to get into the Garrison and Shiro found me. Then, he went on Kerberos and I got expelled. After that, I spent all my time researching the Blue Lion's cave. Then the escape pod with Shiro crash landed. I went to find him and met Lance, Pidge, and Hunk. We went to the cave and a crazy pilot drove the Blue Lion through a wormhole. You guys know the rest"</p><p>"Hey, I'm not a crazy pilot!" Lance complained.</p><p>~time skip to a mission~</p><p>Shiro, Pidge and I were on a mission to get some Galra intel from one of their bases. Pidge was busy with the computer while Shiro and I stood guard outside the door.</p><p>Galra soldiers came in and saw us, so obviously, they attacked. Somehow, they managed to knock out Shiro. I didn't like it, but it was best. I then stuck the doors so Pidge wouldn't get out easily and I would know when she was trying to. I quickly summoned Hell Fire and threw it at the nearest Galra. He shrieked in pain before dissolving to ashes. I summoned more and the Galra ran away. Just in time, because as soon as they left, Pidge started to open the door. I quickly put the fire out and went to check on Shiro. I knew he was just knocked out because there was no death aura around him, but I had to keep up appearances.</p><p>"Is he ok?" Pidge asked once she managed to open the door.</p><p>"Yeah, just knocked out. But it'll  best if we get back to the Castle to check just in case"</p><p>~time skip to after a mission when Lance, Shiro, and Keith were wounded but Keith was the last one standing and used his powers~</p><p>Third person POV</p><p>Shiro and Lance had gotten out of the healing pods a day ago. Now, the Paladins and Allura were in front of Keith's healing pod. Apparently, apart from a few injuries he had major exhaustion. As if he had ran for days without stopping. He was obviously having a nightmare since he kept muttering to himself and whimpering.</p><p>"I don't get this!" Pidge complained. "He was perfectly fine before the attack; he would at least have gotten out before you two" she said pointing at Lance and Shiro.</p><p>"Well, Keith did get rid of all the Galra back there, so it is no surprise he's exhausted" Hunk added.</p><p>"I don't like the way he's shaking, Allura" Shiro started. "Is everything ok with him?"</p><p>"It seems to be a nightmare" she explained. "The weird thing is that some of this injuries are not from any battle, probably from a younger age. Do any of you know anything?"</p><p>"We met at the Garrison, he never talked about his past. Apparently, he's an orphan. He was always defensive" Shiro explained.</p><p>"We have to do something about this nightmare. If he keeps moving it will interfere with the healing process" Allura informed us.</p><p>"Is there any way to see what he's thinking?" Shiro asked concerned. "Maybe then we will be able to help him"</p><p>"The heling pod should be able to project what he's dreaming about" Allura confirmed.</p><p>After a few ticks of typing, a hologram screen popped up in the center of the room. The sight was horrible.</p><p>It was the most horrible place any of them had ever seen. A younger looking Keith was chained to the ground and covered in blood and bruises. At his side, was an old jar. A man that could only be described as monstrous came into view.</p><p>"So, still won't cooperate, I see" Tartarus said.</p><p>Keith weakly glared at him.</p><p>"Let him go" he growled. Tartarus only smiled.</p><p>The scene changed to one where Keith seemed to be on the brink of unconsciousness. Tartarus seemed to close his eyes, and a scowl appeared on his face.</p><p>"Seems like your friends have made it to Rome" he spoke to a knocked-out Keith. "Put him with the other one" Tartarus ordered.</p><p>A giant appeared out of nowhere and tossed a barely awake Keith into the jar. The view changed to the inside. There was another boy, similar to Keith, seemingly dead. The boy opened his eyes and looked at his brother. He searched one of his jacket's pockets and handed him a seed. A pomegranate seed. Keith seemed to understand, and with one last look at Nico, he swallowed the seed and became so still and pale he might as well be dead.</p><p>The Hospital Wing became silent. All of them had felt it wasn't a dream, but a memory. They had tears in their eyes, none of them could imagine all the torture the Red Paladin had gone through. Then, their eyes got misty, and all they could remember was seeing something very bad, but not what it was.</p><p>Keith's POV</p><p>I heard blurred noises. I opened my eyes and heard the familiar hiss of a healing pod. I was caught by a pair of arms. I looked up and saw Lance.</p><p>I haven't noticed before, but I was shaking. The Tartarus nightmares had come back. "Happy thoughts, think happy thoughts" I repeated in my head. I thought about Camp, about my siblings, and how Nico and I would mess with the year-round campers in Halloween. I slowly calmed down and stood up.</p><p>After tons of I'm ok’s, the rest left to do whatever they had to do. Later, we were eating dinner when suddenly Pidge shouted.</p><p>"I GOT A LEAD ON MATT!"</p><p>~time skip when they meet the Blades~</p><p>I was half Galra. I couldn't believe it. Now, everything made sense. The way the gods warily looked at me on Earth, and why my mom had to leave. Now I would be an outcast not only at Camp because of my father, but now at my new family, Voltron, because of my mother.</p><p>The team was shocked to hear the news. I knew Shiro didn't care, and I was thankful for that. Allura became a bit distant but I don't mind, at least she didn't insult me. The rest acted the same if you exclude they would sometimes glance at me whenever they referred to the Galra Empire. I acted as if I didn't notice, nor cared.</p><p>~big time skip~</p><p>The Blades and us had come up with a plan to defeat Zarkon. After completing the mission, we didn't find Shiro in his Lion. The familiar ringing in my ears came, and my eyes widened in realization. But something felt wrong.</p><p>I walked back to the Black Lion's hangar, and felt something coming from the lion. I looked at it and its eyes turned yellow, meaning it was awake. Then, I knew. The Lion had taken Shiro's spirit inside it.</p><p>~After Keith joins the Blades and is stuck in the Quantum Abyss with Krolia~</p><p>We had been here for almost two years. The rest probably thought us dead. We were sitting in front of the small fire we had made. I don't know why, but I decided to bring up my father.</p><p>"So, how did you two meet?" I asked curiously.</p><p>She looked surprised, but answered nonetheless. "I had crash landed on Earth, I hid in the shadows. As you know, Hades knows everything from the shadows. It was the year 1930."</p><p>"So you knew he was a god?"</p><p>"He told me when I was pregnant with you"</p><p>"Why- why did you leave?"</p><p>She sighed and met my eyes. "When you were one, another Galra fleet had picked up the Blue Lion's signal. I had to make sure they didn't arrive here. Your dad knew too, so he asked the cyclops to build an escape pod. He said that the three of you needed to stay together"</p><p>I didn't question who the other two were, it was obvious it was Bianca and Nico.</p><p>"I used it to get outside the atmosphere and snuck in the ship. Then, I erased all traces of the Blue Lion, so the fleet turned back. I messaged Kolivan, and told him the mission was successful" she finished. I nodded in understanding.</p><p>Just then, we arrived at some sort of planet near the abyss. We looked at each other, knowing we were going in there. I grabbed my blade, called for the Space Wolf, and prepared to leave.</p><p>~After he goes back to the Castle with Krolia and Romelle and are now heading to Earth and Krolia went to the Blades~</p><p>Allura transferred Shiro's soul into his clone's body. Luckily, it worked. We all were now heading to Earth. I couldn't believe it; I would see Nico and Hazel and Will and Kayla and the rest of the Seven! Heck, I would even see Clarisse again, I had missed her battle challenges.</p><p>~~</p><p>We were a month away of reaching the entrance to the Solar System, when an all too familiar feeling started. I screamed. The only one in my Lion was Kosmo. He whined, concerned. The ringing was getting stronger by the second. Red had stopped moving, causing the others to stop too. I had been having dreams of the Galra reaching Earth, that must have been why someone died. There was no doubt on who it was, Adam.</p><p>The campers would have waited to analyze the enemy and get to know more about it. The Garrison would just follow protocol. I barely registered the rest of the team going inside Red, they were shouting something, but Kosmo was barking at them and holding them back. Then, I passed out.</p><p>I had a dream while passed out. I was at a fighter ship, a Garrison fighter ship. Adam was piloting it and attacking something. A Galra Cruiser, I realized. I didn't want to see what happens next, even though I already knew. I closed my eyes and felt everything explode, along with Adam.</p><p>I gasped and sat up. I was still in Red, thankfully, but on the floor. I saw everyone looking at me with worried faces.</p><p>"Are you ok?" Shiro asked.</p><p>What do you think?!, I thought.</p><p>I realized I was shaking. I didn't care, though. I gathered my energy and focused on my memories with Adam. Then, I thought of my father and the Underworld. Since I was a son of Hades, it was my way of saying that I wanted a specific soul to be put in my father's domain. The ones that died with him would probably end up there too, but it didn't matter. As long as I could see Adam again, at least in spirit form.</p><p>3rd person POV (a few minutes before)</p><p>After the Red Lion stopped, Shiro tried to contact Keith, but got nothing. They quickly found an abandoned planet and landed on it. Red seemed to catch on because she flew down too. Once she landed, her mouth opened, allowing the others to come in. They found Keith with his hands covering his ears and a look of pain. Kosmo was at his side whimpering. Once he saw them, he stood in front of Keith protectively and started barking at them.</p><p>"He's unconscious!" Shiro shouted. "Please let us help him!" But Kosmo stood his ground.</p><p>Keith started whimpering and everyone's attention turned to him. He kept murmuring something inaudible.</p><p>"ADAM!" Keith bolted awake. There were tears running from his eyes. He closed his eyes and opened them after a while. Kosmo licked his face while Keith hugged his knees. Then, he seemed to notice that the rest were there and somewhat composed himself.</p><p>"Why did we stop?" he asked.</p><p>"Keith," Shiro said with concern, "you passed out"</p><p>"We should get going" he sniffed, " the sooner we get there, the sooner we can take out the Galra"</p><p>"Keith, the Galra are recovering from all the trouble we've caused" Allura said.</p><p>Keith shook his head and ushered everyone out, then took off with Red.</p><p>Keith's POV</p><p>I needed time to process what happened to Adam, but there was no denying that he was dead. I felt tears threatening to fall again, but I quickly wiped them off. I put Red on autopilot and went out of the control room. I summoned Hell Fire to create mist and a rainbow formed. I quickly IMed Chiron.</p><p>The misty image showed they were in a Councilor Meeting.</p>
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<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The Galra invasion on Earth</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello! Sorry for the long wait (writer's block). This chapter is a bit short, but the next one will hopefully be longer.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was a normal day at Camp Half-Blood, or as normal as it could possibly be. Camp Jupiter was visiting, and the Dining Pavilion was packed. The Hunters were also visiting to celebrate the anniversary of the camp alliance. Everyone was eating when a shadow covered them. They looked up to see massive spaceships. Then, a hologram appeared.</p><p>"I am Commander Sendak of the Galra Empire. Surrender or be destroyed"</p><p>Everyone looked at Chiron, alarmed. "I doubt they can see through the Mist, but just in case, grab the absolutely necessary things and go to Bunker 9. No Drew, makeup is not absolutely necessary” the centaur added once he saw the daughter of Aphrodite counting her lipsticks on the table. “Do not panic"</p><p>Naturally, everyone started panicking. The head counselors took their siblings to pack supplies.</p><p>After everyone was inside Bunker 9, (including Sally, Paul and Estelle who were just dropping Percy off for the summer, but stayed to be safe) Chiron divided the Hunters into one part and the campers in another (to avoid getting anyone killed). Then called a counselor meeting.</p><p>They were about to discuss the matter at hand when an IM appeared in front of them.</p><p>"Um, hi?" Keith said, more like asked, on the other end.</p><p>"KEITH! HOW DARE YOU NOT CALL US FOR MORE THAN A MONTH! DIDN'T YOU THINK WE WOULD WORRY?!" Hazel screamed on his face.</p><p>He became a little pale, no one liked an angry Hazel. "I'm on my way to Earth" Keith explained.</p><p>"You're in space?" Travis Stoll asked. Keith nodded. "That's so cool!" Connor added.</p><p>"Have the Galra attacked?" Keith asked.</p><p>"I'm afraid you're correct, Keith" Chiron responded.</p><p>Keith seemed deep in thought. "As I said, we're on our way. I think that because this does not involve anything mythological, none of you can attack directly, right?” after a nod from the centaur, he continued. “You could send a couple of representatives to the Garrison if you’d like, maybe contact the Kanes or Magnus too. I don’t know if Galra can see through the Mist, so be careful” A voice called Keith’s name and he quickly cut the connection.</p><p>With that, they agreed they would send Annabeth and Piper as representatives. While Percy contacted Carter, who sent Sadie as Egyptian representative (Carter has Pharaoh responsibilities), Annabeth called Magnus, who agreed to come as the Norse representative. With Nico’s help, the girls shadow traveled to Brooklyn, then to Boston, and finally into a tunnel near the Garrison. They arrived just in time to blend in with a group of people that was entering the organization.</p><p>Not long after Nico shadow-traveled back to Bunker 9, the Hunters called for another councilor meeting. “Lady Artemis sent us a message” Thalia started; she looked a little pale. “She says Galra can see through the Mist, and that they might attack Olympus”</p><p>“You and the Hunters go scout the Empire State Building, as you can easily blend in with nature. If anything happens, report back here and we will send reinforcements” Chiron answered, looking alarmed.</p><p>The Hunters left immediately and the campers started putting on armor. With a city such as Olympus, it would be impossible for the invaders not to attack it.</p><p>- - - - -</p><p>Meanwhile, at the Galaxy Garrison, everyone welcomed the newcomers. Annabeth, Piper, Sadie, and Magnus stuck together as they made their way to a less packed area.</p><p>“Remember, we are just here to supervise, not interfere. This is the mortal’s battle, not ours” Annabeth reminded them.</p><p>“Hello there”</p><p>The four turned to see a man looking at them. “You must be the representatives Chiron informed me about. I’m Commander Samuel Holt, Legacy of Athena”</p><p>“Nice to meet you, Mr. Holt I’m Annabeth Chase, Daughter of Athena. These are Magnus, Piper, and  Sadie.”</p><p>“Call me Sam, please. You will have to sleep here with the rest of the refugees, but if you need anything, just ask”</p><p>“Thank you, Mr. Holt” Annabeth said.</p><p>“I have to go back, but if you have any suggestions, I’m open to hear them. Just charmspeak someone or use the Mist on them and they’ll lead you to my office”</p><p>With that, Sam left the four teenagers to themselves.</p><p>“It would be nice if we could just take a break from getting rid of random creatures that want to take over the planet” Piper commented.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This chapter was just something of a filler. I wanted to add the riordanverse characters because if there was an alien invasion going on, I doubt they would just stay wherever they are and do nothing. They will most likely simply fade into background characters here, without much of an impact in the Voltron storyline.<br/>- CHB</p>
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